DHS Says ICE Arrested More Than 2,150 Known or Suspected Terrorists Since Trump Returned to Office

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The Department of Homeland Security says Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested more than 2,150 people classified as known or suspected terrorists between January 2025 and September 2026, with 2,015 already removed from the United States.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested more than 2,150 people classified by the Department of Homeland Security as known or suspected terrorists since President Donald Trump returned to office, with more than 2,000 of those individuals already deported, according to figures released as the nation marked the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

DHS said the arrests occurred between Jan. 20, 2025, and Sept. 9, 2026, while 2,015 people in that category were removed from the United States during the same period. The figures were also detailed in a report on the administration’s terrorism enforcement efforts. DHS formally describes the individuals included in the total as “known or suspected terrorists,” or KSTs.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin highlighted the figure during remarks commemorating the Sept. 11 attacks at DHS headquarters at St. Elizabeths in Washington, where officials dedicated Resilience Plaza and displayed artifacts connected to the 2001 attacks.

“Just in a short period of time underneath Trump’s leadership—2,150 terrorists,” Mullin said, adding that he was referring not simply to people appearing on watch lists but, in his characterization, to “known terrorists that were let into this country.”

“To live the American dream? No. Just like those that brought down our towers, they wanted to tear down the United States.”

In its official announcement, DHS used the broader KST designation and said ICE had arrested more than 2,150 known or suspected terrorists and deported 2,015 during the nearly 20-month period.

The department highlighted several cases as examples of individuals arrested during the administration.

Among them was Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez, a Mexican national accused of leading the failed plot targeting the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House in June.

Federal authorities charged Alvarez in connection with the alleged plot, which prosecutors said was intended to target the White House celebration of America’s 250th anniversary. DHS said Alvarez originally entered the United States on a B-2 visitor visa but did not depart before the visa expired in December 2001.

The Obama administration later granted Alvarez protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2014, according to DHS.

The department said Alvarez was arrested in Omaha, Nebraska, and identified him as the alleged ringleader of the failed plot. A federal criminal complaint charged him with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States.

DHS also highlighted Felipe Linares De Oliveira Dell Aquilla, a Brazilian national whom the department described as a former commander in Primeiro Comando da Capital and Comando Vermelho, two Brazilian criminal organizations designated by the United States as foreign terrorist organizations.

Authorities said Aquilla entered the United States illegally at an unknown time and location.

He was arrested in Mooresville, North Carolina, in June after authorities learned that he was allegedly holding his wife against her will while preparing to flee to Mexico. His arrest followed a vehicle pursuit that ended in a crash, according to immigration authorities.

The 2,150-arrest figure was released as federal authorities separately pursued several terrorism-related cases inside the United States.

In August, the FBI disrupted an alleged ISIS-inspired plot targeting the New York State Capitol.

Jessica Bowie, 35, of Albany, New York, was arrested Aug. 19 after taking possession of what she believed was an explosive device, according to the Justice Department. She was formally charged the following day with attempting to provide material support to ISIS.

Federal prosecutors alleged that Bowie intended to destroy part of the Capitol building, kill state senators and then flee to ISIS-controlled territory in Syria. Investigators said she conducted surveillance of the Capitol grounds and photographed the building while developing the alleged plan.

The criminal charge remains an accusation, and Bowie is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

The arrests come amid continuing concern about terrorism threats following several major incidents, including the Jan. 1, 2025, attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

In that attack, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a Texas resident, drove a truck into a crowd, killing more than a dozen people. Jabbar later died during a shootout with police.

The administration has also turned to a rarely used legal mechanism created three decades ago to remove noncitizens linked to terrorism.

On Sept. 11, the Justice Department announced the removal of Afghan national Nazira Haji Zada in what officials said was the first case ever brought before the U.S. Alien Terrorist Removal Court.

Zada, 47, had lived in Fort Worth, Texas. Federal authorities said she supported an ISIS-inspired mass-shooting plot planned for Election Day in 2024 involving her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, and her son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi.

The Justice Department filed its application seeking her removal on July 15. The Alien Terrorist Removal Court issued its removal order on Aug. 20, and the order was later unsealed after Zada was returned to Afghanistan.

According to DOJ, Zada ultimately conceded through counsel that she qualified as an alien terrorist under the statute and waived her right to appeal.

“This landmark case, resulting in the prompt removal of this alien terrorist to her country of origin, is a win for national security and the rule of law,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “Those who support and condone terrorism should not be living in the United States, and this first-ever case before the ATRC shows how the Department will use every tool at its disposal to protect our country.”

The Justice Department said Zada supported preparations for the planned Election Day attack involving members of her family.

Her son and son-in-law were arrested in October 2024 after buying firearms and ammunition from an undercover FBI employee for what authorities said was a planned mass-casualty attack on behalf of ISIS.

Federal investigators said the family sold property, furniture, computers, a mobile phone and vehicles as they raised money ahead of the planned attack. Zada also signed an agreement to sell the family home.

The family purchased one-way airline tickets to Kabul, Afghanistan, for Zada and several younger family members, according to DOJ. Tickets were not purchased for the two men accused of carrying out the planned attack.

Abdullah Haji Zada, who was 17 when arrested, later pleaded guilty as an adult and received a 15-year prison sentence. Tawhedi pleaded guilty in June 2025 to terrorism-related charges involving support for ISIS and firearms intended for use in a federal crime of terrorism.

FBI Director Kash Patel said Zada’s removal demonstrated that people who assist terrorism plots could lose their ability to remain in the United States.

“An individual who supported a plot by ISIS-sympathizing family members to commit an attack in America has paid the price for that,” Patel said. “She came to our country, betrayed it, and has now lost the right to live here and enjoy our democratic freedoms.”

The Zada case marked the first use of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court since Congress created it in 1996 as part of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act.

The specialized federal court was established to consider government applications seeking the removal of noncitizens accused of terrorism-related activity. Five federal district judges may be designated by the chief justice of the United States to serve on the court.

The system also permits the government to use classified evidence when public disclosure could threaten national security, while providing representation to defendants when necessary and allowing appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Despite existing for three decades, the court had never previously been used to complete a removal proceeding.

The latest enforcement figures were announced against the backdrop of the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, when al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners and attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon while a fourth aircraft crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back.

The attacks killed 2,977 people and injured thousands.

Congress responded by passing the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which reorganized numerous federal agencies into a new department focused on preventing terrorism and protecting the United States. The Department of Homeland Security formally began operations in March 2003.

Twenty-five years later, Mullin used the anniversary to connect that original homeland-security mission with the department’s current terrorism-related immigration enforcement.

DHS says that between Trump’s return to office on Jan. 20, 2025, and Sept. 9, 2026, ICE arrested more than 2,150 people the department classified as known or suspected terrorists and removed 2,015 from the country — figures that now form part of the administration’s broader effort to identify and remove individuals it considers national-security threats.